Let's peel back these layers!

Image
juliannlaw Here is a closeup of the endpapers in my debut picture book, THE WORKD’S LONGEST SOCK. I work digitally in Adobe Photoshop but the program doesn’t do it all for me! I knit all the pixels by hand! Haha! I do have things I do to help me work quickly and efficiently, though, like using layers. Here you get to see me take off those layers one by one till we are back at nothing but a background. The World's Longest Sock is now available on  Amazon ,  Barnes and Noble ,  Target , or wherever you  buy books !

Forget the cake. . . let them eat s'mores!


Sunday was Mike's b-day and instead of making him a cake, we made home-made s'mores! Ever since trying table-top s'mores at a restaurant in Dallas last fall I've been wanting to recreate them and I think we succeeded, they were AMAZING! Seriously, I'll do it again and again. I owe the success to Martha Stewart for the fantastic recipes.

  • The marshmallows were a little involved, calling for things like a candy thermometer and unflavored gelatin, but I just followed the directions and it worked. . . here's the recipe. (I did one batch vanilla as called for in the recipe and one batch coconut where I substituted coconut flavor instead of vanilla extract and then also sprinkled the top and bottom with shredded coconut)
  • For the chocolate we melted down a big bar of chocolate (thanks, G, that 11 lb bar has come in handy!), added a tablespoon of heavy whipping cream and spread it on wax paper till it set again. We wanted it to melt faster than a hershey's bar, and it did. It melted the minute it touched those toasty marshmallows! MMMMmmmmm. (Discaimer, the marshmallow doesn't look toasty in my pic above because that one was done in the microwave which also works well and is almost as delicious as over the campfire.)
  • The graham crackers were especially easy to make and so good. They even have wheat germ and whole wheat flour, so doesn't that mean they're healthy too? Martha doesn't have the recipe online, but you can find it in her fantastic new cookbook:
Martha Stewart's Cookies
And speaking of that cookbook, can I geek out about the design for a minute?

Dear M.S. Graphic Designers,

This is just a quick thank you for your work on the new Martha Stewart Cookie Book. You're brilliant and talented and it is obvious that you not only design cookbooks but you actually use them. After seeing your novel, ground-breaking solution to a cookbook Table of Contents, I had to wonder, why didn't I demand this before? How did I not realize that this is what I wanted every time I peruse through a cookbook? Why doesn't every cookbook have pictures of all the recipes right at the beginning with names and page numbers right next to them? I opened it up and almost cried.

I love you, M.S. Designers. You not only made a beautiful book, but you enhanced the user experience.

Juliann Law
a fan

Comments

Holly said…
Hi Juliann,
I love reading your blog...it's much like Martha Stewart herself. Anyway, I saw her new cookie book and was thinking about getting it and now you've convinced me I should. What I cute birthday idea!
missy said…
Okay, those s'mores look AWESOME! I'm drooling just looking at the picture! And I am also a fan of the M.S. Cookie Cookbook. I recently received it for my birhtday from a really RAD person! Thanks SIS! I will be trying my first recipe this weekend. I think I'll be trying a "Cakey and Tender" recipe! I'll tell ya how it turns out! Love ya
Shannon said…
That looks awesome. I hope you saved some for us this coming week. Did you really send that letter to the editors? Weird.
Ann said…
Leave it to you Juliann to find another fab cookie recipe! It looks divine!
Unknown said…
I love this cookbook (thank you) and I LOVE Smores. I think I told you that I have been craving those smores you had in Texas and I wasn't even there. Now I for sure have to figure out how to make them. But danger - I would eat that everyday.
April said…
ok - I will vouch for their fabulousness (the coconut marshmallows = divine). I keep thinking about them - and that cookie cookbook, I thumbed through it for awhile and want to make everything. I'm totally going to copy this recipe... just have to buy a candy thermometer. So good - and I don't really love conventional s'mores.
The Phipps: said…
Juliann--

Yep, those s'mores were absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing them with us at our little group BBQ. You're amazing.

Janelle
The Kyles said…
Thanks Julieann! They were so tasty. Jeff and I have told several people the about "the best s'mores we've ever tasted". Thanks for the info. Those graham crackers were amazing.
Jenni said…
Oh my YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Send me one! And I didn't even know that there was a new Martha cookbook...I'm gonna have to pick me up one of those!!!
Anonymous said…
Okay, I want some s'mores!! Not just pictures!!!
missy said…
Okay, so I forgot to update you on the recipes I tried. I ended up going with 2 recipies from the soft and chewy section... I couldn't resist. Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies and Peanut Butter and Jelly Bars. YUMMM! The Choc. Chip Cookies were amazing... they didn't look that special, but the dough (which is sometimes my main purpose for making cookies) and the cookies themselves were AMAZING. Soft and Chewy just like they promised! M.S. puts great tricks in the book... like place dough onto parchment paper on the cookie sheet. This was a good idea until we went to put them in the oven and the whole cookie sheet of cookies slid right off all over the oven! Anywho, I loved both cookies, loved the way she wrote the recipes... and I will def. be making the choc. chip cookie one again! Love ya!
Anonymous said…
Happy B-day Mike! We miss you guys! That dessert looks SO good and I hope when I attempt it it turns out edible!
Lady G said…
Pictures in the table of contents? that is nothing less than SHEER GENIUS!

I'm glad someone's getting use from the chocolate!! I could have never schlepped it all the way out to california with me. miss you guys and i'll be back soon (2 weeks)...let's do some tim gunn...

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